Apple will reportedly pay OpenAI with 'exposure' to hundreds of millions of its devices for the ChatGPT plug
What you need to know
Apple announced its new partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to the iPhone.
A new report suggests Apple will pay OpenAI using distribution and exposure of its brand across hundreds of millions of its devices.
Apple is the new kid in the AI block, and unlike its competitors, the company promises to maintain the user's privacy and security.
At the just-concluded WWDC 2024 event, Apple highlighted its new AI strategy across its tech stack to compete against key players in the landscape like Microsoft. But besides deeply integrating AI technology across its devices, Apple announced its new partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to the iPhone.
However, the company seemingly remained tight-lipped and didn't disclose additional information regarding its new partnership with the ChatGPT maker. It's unclear if the partnership is mutual beneficial for both parties. But according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the Apple-OpenAI won't be beneficial for either of the parties involved.
According to sources with knowledge about the deal, OpenAI's ChatGPT will be deeply integrated into Siri, giving it a major overhaul. The tool will also be leveraged to support its new set of AI features. While you'd expect such a deal to set Apple an exorbitant amount of money back, this isn't the case.
Interestingly, Apple will give OpenAI something that's better than monetary value — pushing its brand to hundreds of millions of its devices. On the other hand, Apple could potentially benefit a great deal from this new partnership. As we speak, Apple has reclaimed the world's most valuable company crown from Microsoft, a few days after announcing its AI strategy.
For starters, the next-gen AI features shipping to the iPhone via the iOS 18 update will only be available on the iPhone 15 Pro or later. This means users with older iPhones will need to upgrade to access these features — a sleek move that could help with the depressed iPhones sales situation (especially in the Chinese market).
Still, it remains unclear whether OpenAI will seek alternative renumeration sources to make the most out of its deal with Apple. For instance, tying down some of the more sophisticated AI features to its $20 subscription service, ChatGPT Plus.
In hindsight, OpenAI launched its ChatGPT app exclusively to macOS snubbing Windows, despite Microsoft's multi-billion dollar investment. The ChatGPT maker explained that it was prioritizing where its users are, potentially indicating that most of its users uses Macs and not Windows devices.
Does Apple Intelligence support data protection?
Apple is seemingly a late bloomer in the AI landscape, which can be attributed to the security and privacy concerns around the technology. However, Apple has seemingly found a way to bypass these issues and still venture into the cutting-edge technology. Its answer is simple, Private Cloud Compute.
Apple Intelligence predominantly runs on-device. However, complex tasks that require more computing power will leverage Apple's Private Cloud Compute. The company states that the protection of the user's data is among its core priorities. As such, the user's data when leveraging cloud services is end-to-end encrypted. Additionally, it won't be accessible to third-parties or available to train AI models.
Will Gemini and Claude be available on the iPhone?
Despite landing a deal with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to the iPhone, Apple is reportedly seeking to alternative options with Google and Anthropic. If these deals pull through, Gemini AI and Claude might eventually come to the iPhone as well.
